Route 94 re-engineering plan delivered to Vernon Twp. Council

Vernon, N.J. - Vernon officials want to make sure the eight-mile stretch of Route 94 between Hardyston and the New York State border is ready to carry the onslaught of heavier traffic that increased local development as well as the expansion of Mountain Creek will bring the township. To get ahead of the problem, the township asked Maser Consulting to work with the township, the county, and the state to study the stretch of Route 94, and come up with a plan to make the road safer by coordinating land-use and transportation requirements. On Monday, Maser Consulting presented the plan at an afternoon public information session and repeated the key parts later in the evening at a regular meeting of the mayor and council. The 96-page study is one of three such plans the state is working on, said N.J. Department of Transportation official Helene Rubin. As the most ambitious of the three, the Route 94 plan will serve as a model for subsequent plans, Rubin explained. The plan presented last week was the culmination of nearly two years of study. The goal, Maser Consulting engineer S. Maurice Rashed, said, has been to preserve the safety and operational integrity of Route 94 without ruining the rural character of the road. Vernon Mayor Janet Morrison praised the plan and thanked all who had worked on for succeeding in achieving the goal. Rashed described the plan as innovative, adding that access management plans are cutting edge developments in highway access planning. Today Route 94 carries some 11,000 vehicles daily through Sussex County. But when the hoped-for thousands of tourists arrive to enjoy the four-season recreational community Vernon means to become, Maser engineers estimates that the peak traffic volume could become as much as three times greater, growing between 2007 and 2005 from 1,300 vehicles to 3,500 vehicles per hour. Route 94 has its origins in the 1920s, although it has been upgraded and expanded many times since. As with other older state roads, it wasn’t built as a limited access highway: it’s nearly shoulderless, and is lined with trees and utility poles that stand within a few feet of the roadway, making it difficult to widen the road. Rashed explained that driveways of homes and businesses now located along the highway wouldn’t be affected. Among the suggestions in the plan are adding left and right turn lanes at all intersections with traffic signals; realigning Route 517 to give Route 94 priority; adding a traffic signal to the Rudetown Road - Route 94 intersection; adding a two-way left turn lane through the Mountain Creek Village zone; closing the entrance to the Dunkin’ Donuts adjacent to Church Street to cut down on traffic conflicts at the intersection; adding a traffic signal to the Route 644 - Route 94 intersection; adopting land-use laws to encourage shared access; increased setbacks, and minimum lot frontage. Also being explored is the addition of a local connector road from Route 517 (McAfee Road) to an intersection just south of Maple Grange road, using part of the Susquehanna Railroad right of way. Such a road would thin traffic on Route 94 by diverting local traffic from the main highway. Route 94 serves as the backbone of Sussex County, and connects all the major townships with Pennsylvania at the southern end in Warren County, and New York at the northern end in Vernon. The 90-mile-long road enters Sussex County from Warren County at Fredon and carries traffic from the Sussex county seat at Newton, through Hampton, Lafayette, Sparta, Hardyston, Hamburg and Vernon. On Feb. 15, Vernon officials and the state Department of Transportation will hold a public hearing in the township, before the state and Vernon formally adopt the plan. The meeting will take place on March 1, if the weather is inclement. When the plan has been adopted, it will be incorporated into the township’s land use ordinances and its Master Plan, and its provisions will be binding on developers.